The Spotted Devil

sorry for my ignorance, but what is a Dally? sorry scout so i can keep an eye out for you guys A big personality driven white dog with spots - yep, a Dalmatian! Thanks mmoo We are trialling in Obedience, Jumping and Agility and I suspect that Dallies and Boxers might have similar challenges in terms of training. There are a few people at Hastings who trial in obedience too - more probably compete in jumping/agility.

Hey Scouty - I go to Hastings for agility and train in obedience on the outskirts. If you see a Dally there that is us! I don't make it very often but will probably make the trial. Feel free to say hi

Thank you for the update, Toohey. I think we have as much time and positive wishes to spare as Jed will need. The best healing is done through rest. Keeping the candle lit for your ongoing rest and healing, Jane 288 candles from 5 countries: http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candle...=eng&gi=dol He's dreadful isn't he I was hoping the magic of our beautiful waiting room would calm him down! Don't say we didn't warn you about Dizzy - out of 'normal kitten' reach doesn't even work :D He's a fighter though and has been through so much, so I think Jane would appreciate his zest for life. *settles in beside Harminee with a cuppa* I'll bring a pot of spaghetti bolognese this evening if anyone would care to share

Sorry JulesP - that is so tough. I suppose you could either decide that her temperament is just not suited to obedience and consider some other sports OR book a session with a really top trainer to see if you can find another solution. Sometimes it's worth having someone who is independent assess both of you. Would you consider anti anxiety meds to get her on the right track initially? So that she can calm down enough to learn?

Could you start by staying close and rewarding (I would probably use click+treat for accuracy) her when she LOOKS at other dogs? I remember Sue Hogben doing this with a very anxious dog (around people) and before long the dog started to relax and changed her attitude about how scary the person was. And then progress to the steady feet game around other dogs once she has that really nailed? Just some thoughts

*nods* I have never kept snail bait in the house. However, many years ago my housemate was chatting with the neighbour and my ACD wandered into the neighbour's garage and consumed an entire box of snail bait before returning to the house. We know she ate the box as well because cardboard packaging saying "Baysol" was evident in her vomit. I was out at the time. I will never forget that night whilst she was at the veterinary clinic - we had a couple of stiff scotches and I told my housemate (who was devastated) I would never blame her no matter what the outcome. Dolly was a guts and would eat anything. It was just a tragic accident. I don't know how, but Dolly recovered and was home within a few days, although it took a few weeks to be back to her usual self. Be kind to yourself baifra ;) Run free at the bridge, Phoebe, for you will be well remembered and cherished

I iz confused *grin* - so do you normally do some heel work AT the grounds, then put her back in the car and then go straight into the ring when you are called? My focus has really switched to confidence now with Ziggy - when he is really confident that he understands what we're doing he just nails it. I saw that on the weekend with his gorgeous jumping/agility runs. I suspect it is very easy to introduce some sort of doubt into the dog's mind - poor signals, double signals, conflicting signals - be it body language or voice or routine. Slightly OT, but there's a discussion about release words for agility on Yahoo Clean Run - I have trained "OK" as the release word but I can say "Ready?" (which is very high value for something is about to happen) or move or give preemptive body language and he does not move. I actually use "Ready" when we compete sometimes and he's so confident about what his release word is (and what 'wait' means) that he just winds up like a spring and gives me 100% focus.

JulesP - can you remind us what you have tried already? I don't want to go over old ground as I know you've put a lot of work in

ness, the only thing I can suggest is to have a look at your pre-trial warm up. You may be overdoing some aspect of it. Ziggy does the most gorgeous recalls but, at the one Novice trial we bombed, he recalled quite hesitantly and straight into the heel position which he has never done. I suspect I might have put slightly too much emphasis on rewarding heel position during the warm up. I fixed that and he's back to being a reliable rocket launcher

Can't keep up with all the successful trials this weekend Well done RS on your title SL81 - your old girl sounds gorgeous......never mind the dog, though, I'm not that I can get my head around those games courses Ptolomy - I must say that your kids find the MOST original ways to lose points - licking his willy???? ;) ;) ;) ValleyCBR - showing is like that Well done! I must take Zig back in the ring.... Tassie - I would love to do Tracking - it looks just fabulous!!! Great to hear you had a successful weekend of workshopping! DSO - whoo hoo! Congratulations

Wonderful news! Thank you Toohey, Troy and everyone else who has provided updates for us all in the waiting room. I have a cuppa and a couple of old fashioned board games if anyone would like to join me. Sorry about the mass of Dalmatian hair sticking to anything and everything - it's part of the package Now if I could just find somewhere to sit..........my 3 cats seem to need quite a bit of space! Candle lit in healing for Jed... http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candle...=eng&gi=dol

I just shaped it with a clicker - same way as I did for the dumbbell - a few minutes each night using his dinner. He now LOVES the dumbbell although it has taken an age. He's a lot more enthusiastic about metal than he used to be but still not 100% as he rolls it in his mouth - I think to stop it touching his teeth. I am not even going to consider adding scent discrim to the metal equation until he loves the metal like he does the wood.

Congratulations TerraNik and Jedi What a great effort!!! There is no doubt it does - but remember that my life work ( ) when training a Dally revolves around giving him a rest. This is why I really enjoy training him in multiple disciplines (and at more advanced levels than we compete) as it is not so much about a rest full stop but a rest from the same training. When I have a private agility lesson, my wonderful instructor (who runs BCs) trusts my judgement so that Zig spends about 70% of the class time sniffing and peeing and relaxing and enjoying himself whilst I run various course set ups and learn how to handle in various scenarios. Then Zig comes in and only needs to practice once or twice before he is released to do what he wants to. Invariably he nails it because I have mastered the body language already and he is as keen as mustard. The other bonus is that he's learned a really strong on/off switch so although his off switch is VERY strong I can snap him out of it pretty quickly. In terms of trialling, it would have to be a very attractive comp to have me entering 2 weekends in a row at the moment, let alone 2 days in a row!!! He throws himself into the day - he stays awake the whole time and was even restless and fidgety at presentations yesterday unlike the majority of dogs who were asleep. Today he has completely crashed. In obedience, he only has 2 Novice passes - I think we have entered 3 so far - had one disaster trial (which turned out to be a seriously stressed handler issue....think buying/moving/renovating house and doing a PhD) - but I have been very cautious about not bombarding him all at once. The best way to stuff him up is to do an obedience ring run through the week before - he's over it by the trial. I'm going to do a ring through shortly but it will be an experiment and nothing like a Novice run through. I suspect he will love it. There's not many local agility trials on over the next few weeks so we might have a few private agility lessons to tweak some things and hunt out an obedience trial to get that last leg. Then we'll continue pottering along with Open (rather than pushing for it) while I throw him back in the show ring. It was also a cool crisp day in Melbourne yesterday (half the course was hidden by fog and I could barely get his collar off for his first run, my hands were so cold ), which suits him to a tee, as long as he is rugged up in his Smart Coat until the last minute. Sorry - probably a lot longer answer than you expected

Some great passes and some equally great "so close yet so far" certificates I must say I didn't much feel like going anywhere today let alone an agility/jumping trial - something in my tummy was unhappy But as I debated with myself (from 3am) I finally realised that there was no way I was going to waste 50 bucks Zig has done nothing since the Dally Nationals as he came down with a very mild dose of canine cough and I didn't want to risk it getting worse or spreading it around. We worked on weaving this week and that's it! The little Devil put in such a great effort all day - I treat the Open Jumping runs as practice for me - some stuff was really good and we missed out on a pass in one run due to my poor set up for the weavers. The first run was purely a warm up as both of us weren't long out of bed On 3 of the Novice courses it was a case of just one jump down (tough angle), slipped off the table (too fast coming off the A-frame) and overshot the weavers (coming out of the tunnel). However his agility round with one fault was still good enough to get him 1st place and on the last Novice Jumping round for the day he put in a ripper run to get 20.03s Q (SCT 29s) and 2nd place - pipped at the post for 1st by less than one second (Border Collie!) There were lots of angles and tunnel entries were temping for a lot of dogs but he just ran through the angles as if it was a straight run and nailed the entries. I was so pleased with him ;)

I've been a bit under the weather the last few days so Zig hasn't had enough exercise or training to keep the heebie jeebies at bay Yesterday I took him outside and decided to give his Spotted brain a workout. He is learning the very basics of the seekback - mostly straight lines with the occassional turn if he is on fire. So we heeled in a straight line, discretely dropped the article, about turn and halt. Send. Well, it wasn't quite what I expected! Zig took off on the correct line, did a couple of bucks like a young colt with too many oats, did 2 zoomie style laps of the grassed area before returning to heel with a huge satisfied grin on his face It was very hard to keep a straight face! I sent him again. He bolted out on the line with a couple of bucks, found the article and sprinted back to present it to me. I would prefer if he concentrated a bit more on the whole scent thing but I have no doubt that will come with time and understanding. At least I can't fault his enthusiasm!

I train 5-10 min most days - one or two sessions depending on time available, weather and our energy levels. Zig does much better on little and often broken up with lots of free running. We don't go to any formal obedience training at a club but, if I need some ring practice, I can meet up with some like minded people. I really need to join Croydon for agility - maybe this Sunday if I have some time. Over the past few months I've had some private agility lessons which have been fabulous as my instructor understands that Zig needs to have small bursts of effort in between lots of relaxing and sniffing and leg lifting. I spend that time practicing a particular exercise/course and then bring Zig in for one or two good runs.

Keeping the candle lit here too. Thinking of you today as always, Jane. http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candle...=eng&gi=dol

I would probably ensure your dog is physically well first...my preference is Bowen for musculoskeletal issues that don't require veterinary treatment. Then I would get a video of you and your dog working in a few different contexts. It's amazing how easy it is for us as handlers to confuse our dogs. Then I would play the 2 food game with very high value toys or food which will also bring the fun element into training. Then I would suggest you spend a day with a Dalmatian, just to put it all in pespective

Yawning is an interesting one and so much seems to depend on context. I've observed Zig yawn in anticipation of a walk or dinner, frustration (IMO) during training and conflict behaviour when self-control is required. I think it's a useful measure of behaviour but shouldn't be looked at in isolation. Stress is such a loaded word!!! I would probably work on lots of eye contact focus from the dog at this stage....something I always used when introducing Zig to foster kittens and it seemed to relax him. I used a clicker/food.

I just did this at the Dally Nationals in NSW - it was fabulous to have Ziggy's breeders there....they were so delighted with him

You are in our thoughts tonight Jed.

Bad luck Sue & Cindy! Zig doesn't like dropping in the wet either...happened in our first CCD trial. The judge was SO apologetic and was more disappointed than I was I actually enjoy mixing agility and obedience training up in the same session as it keeps Ziggy really focussed. This morning we worked on weaving poles again. So much fun! Now I physically try to push him into the wrong entry and he pushes against me to take it correctly. He just thinks he's so clever. So do I :D

Will fix the photo and PM you

A lot It's freezing here at the moment and I've been flat out at Uni so night times are invaluable - usually train with Zig's dinner. Spent months shaping a dumbbell retrieve - WELL worth it We practice fronts, finishes (both ways), heeling turns, retrieves, change of position, picking up articles - especially leather and double especially metal, start peg focus. On the decking we practice 2O/2O on a plank if it's not raining.....i.e. not much at the moment

It was definitely worth saying twice though